On March 30, 2026, a court in Paris will examine the materials of a criminal case concerning the legalization in France of funds stolen from the Russian budget in 2009 as part of the fraud known as the "Magnitsky Case."
This is not the first such trial to reach court in Europe or the United States. However, for the first time, the defendant is a person whom Magnitsky's colleagues have from the very beginning considered one of the leaders of the criminal group responsible for the theft and subsequent laundering of the money.
The case concerns the withdrawal of 5 billion rubles from the budget under the guise of a corporate profit tax refund. The central figure in this story is Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who worked for the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management, founded by William Browder. In 2007, Browder's companies came under the control of a group of fraudsters who forged documents and obtained a large sum from the tax authorities. Magnitsky testified against officials linked to this scheme, including law enforcement officers and tax service employees. Soon afterward, he was arrested, and then he died in pretrial detention.
Magnitsky's colleagues launched a large-scale international campaign, during which investigations were opened in several European countries and in the United States into the laundering of money stolen in Russia. In 2012, the so-called Magnitsky Act was also passed in the United States, imposing personal sanctions against individuals involved in human rights violations in Russia. Later, similar laws appeared in other countries as well.
According to the version of Hermitage Capital Management and its head William Browder, Klyuev is one of the main organizers of the theft scheme. He owned Universal Savings Bank (UBS), where accounts were opened for shell companies used to launder funds stolen from the budget.
There is much evidence that Klyuev personally knew the officials involved in the fraud. Thus, a few days before Browder's companies were stolen, Klyuev met in Cyprus with tax service employee Olga Stepanova, her husband Vladlen Stepanov, and lawyer Andrei Pavlov. The latter provided legal support for the fraudulent tax refund. All of them are now on the "Magnitsky List" adopted in the United States.
Dmitry Klyuev. Photo: Republic
The criminal case against Klyuev became part of a larger French investigation into the laundering of dirty money from Russia. It began in 2015, when financial intelligence noticed suspicious transactions on the accounts of Decobat, a company registered in Saint-Tropez. Soon, the company's director, Irina Ivanyan, who holds French and Russian citizenship, was charged with participating in money laundering by a criminal group. In January 2026, the court found her guilty, and she paid a fine of one million euros into the French treasury.
The investigation did not stop during all this time and kept expanding to include new legal entities involved in the large-scale money legalization scheme. In 2016, two Cypriot companies, Altem and Zibar, drew the attention of the French police. According to French investigators, the ultimate owner of both structures is Dmitry Klyuev.
Documents from the French investigation indicate that at least 2 million euros were spent in France from the accounts of these companies, and the origin of these funds is linked to the theft of 5 billion rubles from the Russian budget.
With these funds, the following were purchased in France, in particular:
two Birkin bags by Hermes with a total value of 224,000 euros;
jewelry worth 96,000 euros;
art and antiques worth 668,000 euros;
as well as other luxury items.
As early as March 2025, France issued an arrest warrant for Dmitry Klyuev. His current whereabouts are unknown.